Free Republic

A Riverton, Wyoming, man who has been running for a seat on his school board is facing five felony charges after police say he molested a young boy for more than year. Hunter C. DeVries, 23, was charged Monday with five counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, each punishable by between 25 and 50 years in prison. DeVries launched his campaign for a seat on the Fremont County School District No. 25 Board on Aug. 15, with a Facebook post promising strong lines of communication between the public and the school district, support for the teaching staff and...

Biden-Harris administration officials created a plan to use a letter from a third party source as a “pretext for federal action,” and stakeholders and officials discussed federal responses to school board protests, according to a new joint report from the America First Legal Foundation (AFL) and Parents Defending Education (PDE).

A parents group is questioning Attorney General Merrick Garland’s decision to open an investigation into purported threats and acts of violence against school boards across the U.S. after the group discovered that the attorney general’s son-in-law is the co-founder of an education company that uses critical race theory in its work. ... “His daughter is married to the cofounder of @PanoramaEd which is under fire for its multimillion contracts with school boards,” she added. “At @DefendingEd, parents sent us tips. We raised the alarm. Now Garland is trying to silence parents.”

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Law-abiding Americans increasingly are convinced that their government views them as an enemy, perhaps even a “domestic terrorism threat.” A newly unearthed video may confirm those fears. Bureaucrats in numerous federal agencies apparently tag-teamed with the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that demonizes conservatives and Christians, including groups such as Alliance Defending Freedom and Moms for Liberty, in order to raise money and silence political opponents. The federal bureaucrats reached out to the SPLC, which conservatives criticize as a far-left smear factory, as they planned to combat “the domestic terrorism threat.” I’ve long raised the...

A new report just released by the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government has offered shocking new insights into the full extent of the FBI’s efforts to use government power and resources to target, intimidate, and harass Catholics, pro-life activists, and other members of the religious community. The December 4 report found, among other disturbing revelations, that the FBI “abused its counterterrorism tools to target Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists” when agency operatives in Richmond, Virginia, circulated a memo designating so-called “radical-traditionalist Catholic[s]” as potential “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists.” “The Committee and Select Subcommittee...

A Marine-turned-Navy SEAL operator is under investigation for having ties with extremist groups such as the Proud Boys after local reporters and activists, as well as major media outlets, revealed he attended many protests and events throughout Southern California. Chief Special Warfare Operator Bryce Henson is under investigation following allegations of "possibly participating with, or supporting, extremist causes," Nancy spokesman Cmdr. Ben Tisdale confirmed to Military.com.Henson rose to prominence over the past year while attending protests as well as school board and city council meetings, where he pushed anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric under a false name and often in the company of...

There are only a handful of counties in this country that can authentically claim their voting habits are bona fide bellwethers for elections in battleground states. Bucks County, a suburb near Philadelphia, is one of them. (snip) On Tuesday, voters decided to change the balance of power on the Central Bucks School District's school board, which previously had a 6-3 Republican majority. This week, voters flipped it to a pending 6-3 Democratic majority. At issue for these voters, known for swinging back and forth between Republicans and Democrats, was the restriction of political advocacy that the Democratic candidates called "harmful...

Last week’s tussles between state officials and a pair of Southern California school boards may have died down, but they’ve thrown a spotlight on deeper tensions over who makes decisions for local schools — a rift that’s likely to grow as the culture wars escalate

A local school board in Chino Valley, California, ejected California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond after he tried to intervene in a meeting about parental notification for gender transitions. The board voted 4-1 to approve a policy that requires schools in the district to notify parents or guardians if a child wishes to change his or her gender. Critics say the policy requires to “out” transgender kids to parents.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recently added two grassroots groups, Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education, to its “hate map,” labeling them “antigovernment” for daring to disagree with the SPLC’s political beliefs. In their Wall Street Journal op-ed condemning their inclusion on the list, Moms for Liberty founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich say they were targeted because SPLC wants them to “sit down and shut up.” They are right. Labels like “antigovernment,” “radical,” and “domestic extremist” are increasingly weaponized against ideological adversaries. Instead of debating the merits of ideas, it is easier to tar and feather speakers....

VIDEOChristopher Wray's testimony before Congress on July 12, 2023 went so horribly wrong that the FBI PR department desperately posted several damage control tweets in a laughably failed effort to counter what happened. Unfortunately the ratio on those tweets just made things even worse as you can see. In this example, I take a look at the ratio on the FBI's damage control tweet about investigating parents who spoke out at school board meetings.

It was a couple of years ago when MSNBC's Joy Reid and NBC News warned us that those "radicalized parent activists" who were "targeting school boards" were tied up with QAnon. This was back when parents protested the teaching of critical race theory in schools. Liberals assured us that critical race theory wasn't taught in schools, and yet seemed really upset about the idea of it being banned. If it's not happening, who cares? It was a few months later that the National School Boards Association asked the Biden administration to look into angry parents as "domestic terrorism" and "hate...

As Colorado kids struggle to recoup learning losses post-pandemic, teachers unions keep proving that’s not their priority. Standing at the center is the state’s most prominent teachers union — the Colorado Education Association. At the CEA’s statewide conference on April 22, the organization — which claims to represent teachers — took a brazen, ideological stance when it passed a resolution attacking capitalism for “inherently exploit(ing) children, public schools, land, labor, and resources.” Never mind how America’s free enterprise system enables businesses and homeowners to pour billions of dollars into our state’s education system through taxation, or the philanthropic contributions of...

Conservatives who ran on culture war issues won dozens of school board elections in battleground and Democrat-controlled states last week, but you wouldn’t know that from Politico’s coverage of the races. The outlet claimed pro-parent candidates who ran against racist curricula in classrooms, lockdowns, and radical gender ideology “flamed out.” Politico not-so-subtly concluded, based on recent school board election results in Illinois and Wisconsin, that “leaning on school-based wedge issues to court primary voters in a crowded White House campaign” won’t bode well for 2024 front-runner Republicans including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has not...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit made by Loudoun County, Virginia, parents against their public school system over a bias reporting system, which they argue could chill their children's freedom of speech. The appeals court overturned a lower court decision to dismiss the lawsuit Friday, saying that the case against Loudoun County Public Schools’ based on student’s First Amendment rights could continue in federal court. “Schools are supposed to educate children,” Jacob Huebert, president of the Liberty Justice Center, which represents the parents in the case, said in a statement on...

While a bitter taste still lingers from progressive wins at the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Chicago city hall, Republicans are savoring two electoral gains this week with long-term consequences: a new supermajority in the Wisconsin legislature and conservative school board wins in Chicago's suburbs. In fact, state Rep. Dan Knodl's capture of a vacant Wisconsin state Senate seat on Tuesday already has Republicans contemplating using their new two-thirds majority in the chamber to possibly remove liberal officials like elected judges and district attorneys through impeachment. Knodl said before he was elected, he would consider impeaching Milwaukee County court officials, including...

During the 2022 Illinois Republican Primary, IL GOP leaders played favorites with their preferred list of so-called “establishment” candidates – even funding mailers that viciously attacked their conservative grassroots opponents. And in exclusive audio obtained by Illinois Review, IL GOP chairman Don Tracy, during a meeting with conservative leaders in July, admits that the Richard Irvin campaign for governor was allowed to use the IL GOP postage discount for mailers – a perk not afforded to other candidates in the governor’s race. But when it comes to supporting conservative school board candidates who are running in the upcoming April 4th...

The House Judiciary Committee under chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) issued a subpoena on Friday for FBI Director Christopher Wray, requiring that the chief hand over documents and correspondence involving the bureau’s “misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources” to politically persecute conservative parents at school board meetings across the country.

The House Judiciary Committee fired off its first subpoenas under the leadership of Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), targeting a trio of Biden administration officials including Attorney General Merrick Garland over a short-lived memo dealing with threats against school board members. The subpoenas, sent also to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, follow a series of more than 100 letters on the 2021 memo from Judiciary Republicans. Garland signed the memo in October of last year, noting a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff” amid broader discussion...

In Tuesday's midterm elections, grassroots parental rights organizations successfully secured key victories in school board races across the country, reported the Daily Caller News Foundation. Moms for Liberty, a group fighting to preserve parental rights in the public education system, and the 1776 Project PAC, a political organization fighting against critical race theory in classrooms, supported school board candidates in several races. While not all midterm election results have officially been called, the organizations reported that many of their endorsed nominees already won and successfully flipped school boards to conservative majorities in Florida, Maryland, Indiana, and Michigan. "Last night was...